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‘It made my walk a little taller’: the inspiring LGBTQ legacy of Pose - The Guardian

‘It made my walk a little taller’: the inspiring LGBTQ legacy of Pose - The Guardian

Jun 08, 2021 2 mins, 37 secs

As the groundbreaking show ends its award-winning three season run, those involved with the show talk about its importance for trans and queer people of color.

Gold crowns inset with emeralds, fur-trimmed capes and gowns embellished with glittering diamonds and pearls clothed The House of Abundance as they made their last-minute entrance into a New York City ballroom and their first entrance on to our TV screens in the premiere episode of Pose in June 2018, which aired its final episode on Sunday.

The resplendent opening scene set the tone for what the Steven Canals-created drama has come to represent for the Black and Latino LGBTQ community over its three groundbreaking seasons.

The series features the largest number of trans actors in regular roles of any scripted TV show in history – centering the narratives of the Black, Afro-Latino and Latino trans and queer people who birthed and nurtured ballroom culture of the 1980s and 1990s.

Despite the glamour and jubilance of the underground ballroom scene of the 80s and 90s, where Black and Latino trans and queer people could safely present however they chose, there was still danger in their day-to-day lives as they faced sweeping transphobia, homophobia and biphobia aimed at limiting the visibility and social influence of the LGBTQ community.

Pose’s fictional characters honor the real-life trials and triumphs encountered by countless members of the Black and Latino trans and queer community.

“There were just so many ballroom folks involved with Pose’s [creative and storytelling process] to inspire and to give a human scope around the ballroom community and its dualities,” said Chase.

This message is especially encouraging for Black and Latino members of the LGBTQ community who continue to face discrimination, racism, phobias, denial of rights, and threats of physical violence four decades after the stories depicted in Pose.

“As Black and Latino people, I think that is why we are the chosen and tapped in on a different frequency.

As the trans and queer community faced the uncertainty of the HIV and Aids health crisis and the attack on their social rights – the ballroom offered a safe space of happiness, creative inspiration and fellowship.

“Not only does the ballroom community consist of houses, but people literally grow together and depend on each other outside of those families.

It’s literally a community.

In times of need, Pose’s community of Black and Latino trans and queer characters come together to help their own.

In one of the show’s most memorable episodes, which was directed by the Pose executive producer Janet Mock, the trans women of the community come to Elektra’s assistance when she faces a dire crisis after the overdose death of one of her Hellfire clients.

They are members of a larger chosen family bound together by their creative pursuits in the ballroom and the shared battle against the daily denial of their dignity as trans and queer people of color.

“[Pose] is such a good show to the point you can bring blue, black, green, yellow people on the screen and they tell this very specific story, and they are able to tap into everyone universally.

Summarized by 365NEWSX ROBOTS

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